Hard to capture lightning in a bottle twice. This comes close to the fun romp of the first novel, but also allows itself to become a less organized carbon copy. 

Of all the Wayfarers books, this one got me emotional. I was initially worried about how many different storylines and characters we were following, but quickly fell into it and sorted them out in my mind. 

This was a nuanced look at business, tech, and gender politics. No one was untouchable or infallible.

I have rapidly become a Becky Chambers fan girl. She manages to take dense science fiction concepts, like how we defined sentient beings and the ethics of artificial intelligence and labor, and make them feel like a conversation about humanity and individuals. She is a master of characters and such a gift to this genre.

I feel like this may be needed a little more development? The big twist felt a little haphazard, and the buildup felt mismatched to the reveal. I also found I didn’t like our main character very much. She just seemed… I don’t know… annoying. 

… this … made me feel deeply weird. Planning to watch the film tonight and process.

This was much more depressing than I expected, and less whimsical

I appreciated how the sequel explored more of the other factions and tribes and asked people to question cultures and norms. I didn’t quite fall into this one as much as I did the first one but really enjoyed it.

As a feminist Science Fiction fan, I always feel a bit ashamed that I haven’t read more Le Guin and that (frankly) I don’t enjoy her work more than I do. I found the first 2/3 of this book relatively tedious to get through but the final third was engaging. It’s a lot of politics. I also understand that her interest in exploring gender and sex was revolutionary at the time, and admire and respect that, but in modern reading, the constant discussion of the technicalities  gets a little old.

This was unexpected and extremely creative. It was so sad but also so straightforward veering into dry humor. The tone was really unique.